Cambridge A-level Economics Year 13 revision

Topic 7: The price system and the microeconomy

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in The price system and the microeconomy, and takes it further.

There are 20 parts: we start with total, average and marginal revenue and the link to price elasticity of demand, and finish with constraints on growth and demergers.

1. 7.1Total, average and marginal revenue and the link to price elasticity of demandFree 19 questions
2. 7.2Short-run production and costs: productivity, diminishing returns, fixed and variable, average and marginal costs43 questions
3. 7.3Long-run costs: returns to scale, economies and diseconomies of scale, LRAC and minimum efficient scale48 questions
4. 7.4Normal and supernormal profit, losses, break-even, shutdown and profit maximisation (MR=MC)52 questions
5. 7.5Productive and allocative efficiency27 questions
6. 7.6Dynamic efficiency, static efficiency and X-inefficiency33 questions
7. 7.7Perfect competition: short-run and long-run equilibrium, efficiency and the shutdown point26 questions
8. 7.8Monopolistic competition: characteristics, short-run and long-run equilibrium and efficiencyFree 28 questions
9. 7.9Oligopoly: characteristics, concentration ratios and interdependence32 questions
10. 7.10Non-collusive oligopoly: kinked demand curve, price rigidity, price leadership and price wars30 questions
11. 7.11Collusion, cartels and game theory (prisoner's dilemma and Nash equilibrium)41 questions
12. 7.12Monopoly power: natural monopoly and the costs and benefits of monopoly compared with competition56 questions
13. 7.13Price discrimination: conditions, types, diagrams and welfare effects27 questions
14. 7.14Contestable markets: barriers to entry, sunk costs, hit-and-run competition and limit pricing54 questions
15. 7.15Price and non-price competition and pricing strategies (predatory pricing, cost-plus, loss leaders)30 questions
16. 7.16Profit, revenue and sales maximisation as business objectives23 questions
17. 7.17Satisficing, managerial and growth objectives30 questions
18. 7.18The principal-agent problem and the divorce of ownership from control22 questions
19. 7.19Business growth: organic growth, mergers, takeovers and types of integration24 questions
20. 7.20Constraints on growth and demergers34 questions

Topic 8: Government microeconomic intervention

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in Government microeconomic intervention, and takes it further.

There are 19 parts: we start with competition policy, and finish with government intervention in the labour market.

1. 8.1Competition policy: the CMA, merger control, cartels and abuse of dominant positionFree 34 questions
2. 8.2Regulation of natural monopolies and privatised industries: price caps (RPI-X/CPI-X), rate of return and quality standards75 questions
3. 8.3Privatisation and nationalisation: arguments for and against25 questions
4. 8.4Deregulation, liberalisation and promoting competition and contestability23 questions
5. 8.5Government failure in markets: regulatory capture, information gaps and unintended consequences73 questions
6. 8.6Income and wealth: sources, distribution and measures (deciles, quintiles, wealth inequality)Free 32 questions
7. 8.7The Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient: construction, calculation and interpretation19 questions
8. 8.8Absolute and relative poverty: definitions and measurement27 questions
9. 8.9Causes of poverty and inequality: wage differentials, discrimination, unemployment, wealth accumulation and globalisation71 questions
10. 8.10Consequences of poverty and inequality for individuals, growth and society30 questions
11. 8.11Redistribution through taxation and benefits: progressive, regressive and proportional systems34 questions
12. 8.12Other policies to reduce poverty and inequality and the equity-efficiency trade-off32 questions
13. 8.13The labour market and inequality53 questions
14. 8.14Demand for labour: derived demand, marginal revenue product theory and elasticity of labour demand16 questions
15. 8.15Labour supply: determinants, elasticity of supply, labour mobility and the gig economy31 questions
16. 8.16Wage determination in competitive labour markets, economic rent and transfer earnings67 questions
17. 8.17Monopsony and bilateral monopoly in labour markets62 questions
18. 8.18Trade unions and collective bargaining: effects on wages, employment and productivity25 questions
19. 8.19Government intervention in the labour market: national minimum wage, living wage and wage policy55 questions

Topic 9: The macroeconomy

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in The macroeconomy, and takes it further.

There are 6 parts: we start with financial markets and monetary policy, and finish with sustainable development and environmental constraints on growth.

1. 9.1Financial markets and monetary policyFree 29 questions
2. 9.2Commercial banks, credit creation, liquidity and bank balance sheets36 questions
3. 9.3Bond prices, bond yields and interest rates; equity and capital markets56 questions
4. 9.4Market failure in financial markets: asymmetric information, moral hazard, speculation, bubbles, herding and market rigging61 questions
5. 9.5Central banks: lender of last resort and financial regulation (FPC, PRA, FCA, capital requirements)33 questions
6. 9.6Sustainable development and environmental constraints on growth59 questions

Topic 10: Government macroeconomic intervention

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in Government macroeconomic intervention, and takes it further.

There are 13 parts: we start with government spending and taxation, and finish with choosing the policy mix.

1. 10.1Government spending and taxation: types, trends and the canons of taxationFree 36 questions
2. 10.2Direct and indirect taxes, tax incidence and effects on incentives36 questions
3. 10.3The Laffer curve and the effect of tax rates on revenue and incentives16 questions
4. 10.4Fiscal policy: stance, discretionary policy, automatic stabilisers and the multiplier73 questions
5. 10.5Budget deficits, surpluses and national debt: causes, consequences and crowding out30 questions
6. 10.6Fiscal rules, debt sustainability and evaluating the effectiveness of fiscal policy61 questions
7. 10.7Monetary policy instruments and transmission mechanism: interest rates, quantitative easing, forward guidance and inflation targeting44 questions
8. 10.8Effectiveness and limitations of monetary policy: time lags, liquidity trap, central bank independence and exchange rate effects66 questions
9. 10.9Market-based supply-side policies: tax cuts, privatisation, deregulation, competition and labour market reformFree 75 questions
10. 10.10Interventionist supply-side policies: education and training, infrastructure, R&D, industrial and regional policy32 questions
11. 10.11Evaluating supply-side policies: effects on LRAS and macroeconomic objectives, costs and time lags44 questions
12. 10.12Macroeconomic policy objectives, conflicts and trade-offs33 questions
13. 10.13Choosing the policy mix: demand-side versus supply-side policy and government failure in macro policy30 questions

Topic 11: International economic issues

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in International economic issues, and takes it further.

There are 20 parts: we start with absolute and comparative advantage, and finish with globalisation, trade and development.

1. 11.1Absolute and comparative advantage: opportunity cost, specialisation and limitationsFree 21 questions
2. 11.2Patterns of trade and the terms of trade26 questions
3. 11.3Free trade and protectionism: tariffs, quotas, subsidies and non-tariff barriers29 questions
4. 11.4Trading blocs, customs unions and the World Trade Organisation31 questions
5. 11.5The balance of payments: current, capital and financial accounts26 questions
6. 11.6Causes and consequences of current account deficits and surpluses21 questions
7. 11.7Policies to correct imbalances: expenditure-switching and expenditure-reducing policies30 questions
8. 11.8Exchange rate determination in floating systems: currency demand and supply and influencing factorsFree 44 questions
9. 11.9Exchange rate systems: fixed, managed and currency unions; central bank intervention58 questions
10. 11.10Effects of exchange rate changes: competitiveness, inflation, growth, J-curve and Marshall-Lerner condition43 questions
11. 11.11International competitiveness: productivity, unit labour costs and non-price factors44 questions
12. 11.12Purchasing power parity, real and nominal exchange rates and cross-country comparisons53 questions
13. 11.13Economic growth and development: measures including HDI, GNI per capita (PPP) and other indicatorsFree 47 questions
14. 11.14Factors influencing growth and development: primary product dependency, savings and foreign currency gaps, demographics, debt, infrastructure and institutions50 questions
15. 11.15Structural change, the Lewis model, urbanisation and the informal economy67 questions
16. 11.16Market-oriented development strategies: trade liberalisation, privatisation and microfinance83 questions
17. 11.17Interventionist development strategies: human capital, infrastructure, protectionism, buffer stocks and industrialisation70 questions
18. 11.18Multinational corporations and foreign direct investment in developing economies30 questions
19. 11.19Aid, debt relief, Fairtrade, NGOs and the role of the IMF and World Bank26 questions
20. 11.20Globalisation, trade and development57 questions

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